Ex-Vikings destroy Mike Zimmer in revealing interview: 'Petty and annoying'

The former linemen played under Zimmer in Minnesota in 2016 and 2017...

November 28, 2021; Santa Clara, California, USA; Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer watches warm ups before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Mike Zimmer dished on some serious grievances and grudges stemming from his firing from the Minnesota Vikings at the end of the 2021 season and there are a couple of former linemen who played under Zimmer who aren't one bit surprised.

After seeing Zimmer's interview for the first time, ex-Vikings offensive lineman Alex Boone — he played for the Vikings in 2016 and 2017 — said he thought "there's no way that any coach would ever f****** say this."

But Zimmer did in an interview with the Star Tribune, saying he had no interest in addressing the team after he was fired and that he hasn't watched a Vikings game since. He also revealed a falling out with former GM Rick Spielman and expressed a distaste for announcer Paul Allen over a comment Allen made about him on the radio.

Jeremiah Sirles, Boone's co-host on the The OLine Committee podcast, was equally shocked.

"If you have a GM and a head coach that don't speak about roster, you're dead in the water," Sirles said. "Reading that article as I read it, it sounded like the relationship 100% fractured in 2018. When they signed Kirk Cousins, that was the fracture and it never mended."

Boone agreed.

"Remember back in '18 we were all like 'there's no way Zimmer likes this guy,'" Boone said. "Mike's too much of a hard ass and Kirk's not hard at all like that and Mike wants everybody to be hard and that's Mike's problem. It's not because you're old, dude. Being old has nothing to do with anything. Pete Carroll was old as f***, but he treated everybody with a ton of respect. I'm not kidding."

"There was no pullback (from Zimmer), ever," Boone continued. "There was never a time that it was like 'this guy's gonna be chill.' Even after wins we were still getting cussed out."

Sirles, who played for Minnesota in 2016 after playing two years with the Chargers, said it was a massive change going from playing under offensive-minded head coach Mike McCoy to Zimmer, who was all about defense.

"When I got to Minnesota, it was so polar opposite that the offense was literally the red-headed stepchild of the entire team. I just never felt confident as an offense," Sirles said. "It just felt like we were walking on eggshells all the freaking time. And it just compounded year after year."

Both linemen said it was impossible to bring up grievances with Zimmer.

"You couldn't say anything to him, dude," said Boone. "There was nothing to say and that was the whole problem. You look at this article now and he's like, 'I'll never get another [head coaching job] because I'm old.' No, you're not getting another job because you're throwing everybody under the bus again and instead of just saying, 'Hey it was a s****** tenure and things got f****** crazy and it is what it is and we've moved on,' you're like, 'Really it wasn't my fault, it was everybody else's fault and by the way I don't talk to any of these people anymore because they said the truth about me.' Like, dude, that's so petty and annoying."

Boone later explained that Zimmer was extremely hard on a young, starting offensive lineman on the 2016 team who was "very important" to Minnesota's success. He claimed Zimmer constantly delivered the young lineman a "you just f****** suck" message. Sirles confirmed Boone's claim, saying Zimmer was "killing this kid" and even played lowlights during team video sessions to prove his point.

Zimmer is in his first season as defensive coordinator with the Dallas Cowboys. The Vikings and Cowboys don't meet in the regular season, so any grudge match will have to wait until the postseason.

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